Best Practices for Pollinators Summit 2022 – March 1 – 3

THREE DAYS OF MASTER TALKS

Join every talk, or attend just your favorites

Tuesday, March 1st: 9 AM to 2 PM CST

Beyond Bees: A Closer Look at Some Other Awe-Inspiring Insects. Sarah Foltz Jordan, Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist and Habitat Restoration Specialist, The Xerces Society.

Herbicide Effects on Pollinators.  Emily May, Pollinator Conservation Specialist, Pesticide Program, The Xerces Society.

Ecological Impacts of Systemic Insecticides: Neonics and Beyond. Sarah Hoyle and Sharon Selvaggio, Pesticide Program Specialists, The Xerces Society.

County Roads as Habitat: The Iowa Approach. Dr. Kristine Nemec, Program Manager, University of Northern Iowa Tallgrass Prairie Center.

Re-Thinking Mosquito Management to Reduce Ecological Risk.  Dr. Rella Abernathy, Senior Ecologist for City of Boulder, and Board of Directors at Beyond Pesticides, and People & Pollinators Action Network.

Meadow-Making Alchemy: Comparative Methodologies from Beyond the Midwest.  Eric Lee-Mäder, Pollinator and Agricultural Biodiversity Program Co-Director at The Xerces Society and Principal at Northwest Meadowscapes.

Networking Break Out Session (immediately following programs: 2:00-2:45)

Wednesday, March 2nd: 9 AM to 2 PM CST

Native Predatory Wasps: Their Role as Pollinators and Beneficial Insects. Heather Holm, Pollinator Conservationist and Author .

Risk of Current Agricultural Systems and Promise of Regenerative Agriculture for Bee Health. Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, Agroecologist, Director of ECDYSIS Foundation, and Founder of Blue Dasher Farm.

On The Verge: Roadsides and Pollinator Conservation.  Jennifer Hopwood, Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist, The Xerces Society.

Grazing Ecology, Restoration Ecology, and Biodiversity. Stephen Thomforde, Senior Restoration Ecologist, Stantec.

Soil Health Evaluation Demonstration.  Dr. Ann Marie Journey, Agriculture, Soil & Aquatic Entomologist.

Networking Break Out Session (immediately following programs: 2:00-2:45)

Thursday, March 3rd: 9 AM to 2 PM CST

Plant Powerhouses and Insect Partners. Heather Holm, Pollinator Conservationist and Author -and- Sarah Foltz Jordan, Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist, The Xerces Society.

Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Pollinator Conservation Efforts. Dr. Bruce Stein, Chief Scientist, National Wildlife Federation.

Habitat Restoration Tactics in Parks.  Dan MacSwain, Natural Resources Coordinator, Washington County Parks.

Holistic Systems for Land Management.  Jay Feldman, Executive Director, Beyond Pesticides.

Seed Mixes for Pollinator Habitat: Tools and Resources. Karin Jokela, Pollinator Conservation Planner at The Xerces Society, and NRCS Partner Biologist.

Presenters (in process):

Rella Abernathy, Ph.D. oversees ecosystems management policy and programs for the City of Boulder, Colorado, including pesticide reduction, urban pollinator and biodiversity conservation, ecological mosquito management and is part of a team developing an ecological resilience framework for natural climate solutions to improve management of the city’s extensive natural and working lands. Dr. Abernathy has a B.S. in botany and an M.S. in entomology from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Florida.

Bre Bauerly, Project Manager and Habitat Restoration Specialist, Minnesota Native Landscapes. Bre’s background is in plant and wetland ecology and ecological restoration.

Jay Feldman, Executive Director, Beyond Pesticides. Jay has dedicated himself to finding solutions to pesticide problems after working with farmworkers and small farmers in rural America. Jay cofounded Beyond Pesticides and tracked chemical effects, regulatory actions and pesticide law. He has a Masters in urban and regional planning with a focus on health policy, and completed a 5 year term on the National Organic Standards Board.

Sarah Foltz Jordan, Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist, Habitat Restoration Specialist, Great Lakes Region, Xerces Society. Sarah leads Xerces’ upper Midwest native bee and monarch habitat restoration projects, working closely with farmers, agencies, and conservation groups to promote pollinators on farms and in natural areas. She has authored comprehensive documents about the biology and conservation needs of nearly 200 rare invertebrates, along with numerous pollinator-related fact sheets, guidebooks, and educational tools.

Heather Holm is a biologist, pollinator conservationist, and author of numerous books including Pollinators of Native Plants, and BEES, and WASPS. Heather’s expertise includes the interactions between native pollinators and native plants, and the natural history and biology of native bees and predatory wasps occurring in the Upper Midwest and Northeast. More information is online at pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Jennifer Hopwood, Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist, Xerces Society. Jennifer is an educator and researcher on pollinator and beneficial insect habitat management and restoration. She oversees a team of USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service biologists and works closely with the NRCS. Jennifer authored publications and articles, and is co-author of several books, including Farming with Native Beneficial Insects, and100 Plants to Feed the Bees, and a roadside revegetation manual. Jennifer has a MS in entomology from the U of Kansas. Along with work as a research specialist conducting invertebrate field research, she was an instructor in biology and environmental science at Iowa State University and Des Moines Area Community College prior to joining Xerces in 2009.

Sarah Hoyle, Pesticide Program Specialist, Xerces Society. Sarah joined Xerces Society in 2016. Her work supports invertebrate conservation by evaluating risks from pesticides. She promotes ecologically-sound pest management and protects habitat from pesticides in both rural and residential areas. Sarah holds a MS in environmental management from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Karin Jokela, Farm Bill Pollinator Conservation Planner, Xerces Society. Karin is a pollinator conservation planner and partner biologist based in southeast Minnesota. She collaborates with NRCS staff in Minnesota and Wisconsin to provide individual consulting to farmers on habitat restoration and pollinator-friendly farm management practices, and serves as an adviser to staff of other conservation organizations. Karin received her M.S. in ecology from Iowa State University.

Ann Marie Journey, PhD, is an agricultural, soil and aquatic entomologist. Dr. Journey recently served four years as the ACES Soil Health Coordinator with Minnesota NRCS and has been the Minneapolis team leader for the Hennepin County Wetland Health Evaluation Program since 2008. Leveraging a career in research, government and education/outreach, she brings an unusually broad perspective to the field of soil health.

Eric Lee-Mäder is the Pollinator Conservation and Agricultural Biodiversity Co-Director at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (www.xerces.org). In this role Eric works across the world with farmers, major food companies, and agencies such as the USDA to enhance biodiversity in agricultural lands. Since 2008, Eric and his team have supported large-scale wildflower restoration for pollinators across more than 900,000 acres across the United States. He is the author of several books including Attracting Native Pollinators, and Farming with Beneficial Insects.

Jonathan Lundgren is an agroecologist, Director/CEO of Blue Dasher Farm and founder of Ecdysis Foundation. He received a PhD in entomology from U of Illinois in 2004 and was a top scientist with the USDA-ARS for 11 years. Dr. Lundgren’s research and education programs focus on assessing the ecological risk of pest management strategies and developing long-term solutions. Lundgren received the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering by the White House and has served as an advisor for national grant panels and regulatory agencies on pesticide and GM crop risk assessments. Lundgren has written 107 peer-reviewed journal articles, authored the book Relationships of Natural Enemies and Non-prey Foods, and has received more than $3.4 million in grants.

Dan MacSwain, Natural Resources Coordinator and Habitat Specialist, Washington County Parks in Minnesota. Dan oversees six county parks in Washington County where he advocates and implements chemical-free best practices including burning, grazing, conservation haying, cover and smother cropping, soil health, and mold board. Washington County Parks has pledged to convert and restore 200 acres back to wild prairie and oak savanna over the next couple of years.

Emily May, Pollinator Conservation Specialist, Pesticide Program at The Xerces Society. Emily has an MS in entomology from Michigan State, studies pollinator habitat restoration, bee nesting habits and the effects of pest management on wild bee communities. Her work at Xerces since 2015 has focused on supporting crop pollinators through habitat creation and protecting bees and beneficial insects from pesticides.

Kristine Nemec, Roadside Program Manager, Tallgrass Prairie Center. Kristine joined TPC in 2015 and is the statewide coordinator for roadside programs, provides training and education and conducts outreach to raise awareness of the value of roadside programs. Previous to Tallgrass Prairie Center, she worked for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where she developed and implemented ecosystem restoration plans, and the U.S.D.A Research Service where she researched pollinator use of biofuel oilseed crops. Dr. Nemec has an MS in environmental studies, an MA in biology from U of Nebraska, and PhD in natural resource sciences.

Laurie Schneider, Executive Director, Pollinator Friendly Alliance. Grew a grassroots local group into a dynamic regional conservation organization with work that focuses on advocating protections for pollinators, increasing chemical-free habitat and educating public and private land stewards on ecologically sound practices. Previously she supervised research studies on pesticides effects on pollinators at the University of Minnesota.

Sharon Selvaggio, Pesticide Program Specialist, The Xerces Society. Sharon’s work centers around reducing reliance on pesticides and understand pesticide risk to invertebrates. Sharon previously worked at Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service, and integrates her focus on pesticides with her experience managing natural areas and agricultural lands. Sharon earned a MS in energy and resources and a BS in biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Bruce Stein, Chief Scientist, National Wildlife Federation. Dr. Stein is a leading expert on species extinction, biodiversity conservation, and the effects of climate change on species and ecosystems. Over the past decade much of his work has focused on advancing the science and practice of climate change adaptation. Dr. Stein has served as a scientific advisor to various government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Interior and Department of Defense, and is on the steering committee of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Climate Change Specialist Group. He is the author of numerous publications, including a widely used guide to climate change adaptation Climate-Smart Conservation and an award-winning book on the status of biodiversity Precious Heritage.

Stephen Thomforde is a Senior Ecologist with Stantec, a farmer and educator. Steve’s experience encompasses 25 years of innovative ecological restoration, using cutting edge principles, e.g. ecosystem phenomenology, keystone processes such as grazing, and disturbance theory coupled to a strong natural history. His work focuses on grassland, savanna, and wetland projects.